The Adventures of The Insurgent Fairy
by Book Sin
Summary: Zarina goes to a far-flung land of Ockstein to learn the necessary qualities and behaviour of a human being from a holy monk and his apprentice from the Temple of Nowhere. Will she be able to comprehend the philosophy of humanity and the spirituality of the Monks and will she learn how to tell apart the superstitious, the religious, and the knowledgeable.
1. Chapter 1: A visitor

Sounds of hungry wolves echoed through the semi-mountainous terrain as the beautiful sun rises, revealing the lush green vegetation of Ockstein and its beautiful scenery on that faithful Monday morning. It was, supposedly, every normal dull morning with the animals slowly moving across the great plain adjacent to my village, along with those magnificent colourful macaws flying out to catch their next meal and, of course, the beginning of the busy provincial routine in which everyone in town was accustomed to. The farmers had already gone out to tend their fields and cattle and it was extremely rare to find one still half-a-sleep in bed, but then again Benbolios have always lived like that. He was a close friend of mine whose profession was actually star-gazing, he would never let a single night passed by without updating his night's sky journal. Despite all of that, he managed to get up fairly on time to work on his landlords property who secretly enjoys his villein's queer interest. Right next to the rather large farm were the crafts men with their trade and workshop ready for smelting and moulding precious minerals that the monks and the miners provided. Now you may think miners were the only one capable of finding those objects, however, monks such as myself are exceptionally good at it which made some of the miners quite envious of our unique ability, so much that they can't even stand the thought of us stealing their jobs and probably the worst of them were Paxliax and Rosencratz who would constantly go looking for brawls with us to get even. In reality, we seldom supply the crafts men so as to not put then out of business, only when it is too treacherous for the miners to obtain should we intervene.

I was taking my daily walk in the Temple Garden - meditating, when a visitor came through the crimson arched gate. She was not from here, nor anywhere near Ockstein for her skin was too light and fair for this climate, her attire was a badge desert suit with golden buttons and a pair of grey sandals topped off with a brown fedora. As I calmly stroll towards her to greet, I noticed some strands of pure red hair hanging over her head which gave the finishing touch to an incredible sight.

"Welcome the Temple of Nowhere visitor" said I,

"Thank you master, I did not expect any one waiting for my arrival" she answered politely with a little amiable smile. I was surprised a bit, I was only an apprentice under the guidance of a master.

"I believe you must have mistaken me for master Qom, I am his apprentice, are you expected?" I inquired the red-headed lady,

"No not really, sir, but I am Zarina and I have traveled a great deal to learn from your master" she spoke with a slightly rough tone. I motioned her to join me in my walk through the Garden.

"Then you have come to the right place, my master's temple is opened for anyone who wishes to learn and understand the essence of life and it's creatures , but..." I paused, looking over Zarina, she was admiring the delicate beauty of the simple light-coloured flowers in their seasons. Having noticed the absence of my voice, she turned her head to mine and said shyly:

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to be rude but those flowers, they reminded me of something long ago"

"Don't fret sister, you were not rude at all, as I was saying there's a price"

"A price?"

"Yes, shall we go inside? My master will explain the details in a moment."


	2. Chapter 2: Denied!

As I guided Zarina into the antique-like austere Temple, she questioned me with an irritated manner:

"You've made me walked twice around the Garden before actually bringing me inside the Temple and you have not spoken a single word since then, must you always be this bored rigid,"

I remained quiet, trying to block her rough little voice out of my head. I was strictly instructed to never bring weary travellers or statesmen whether Kings or Marquises without taking them around the Garden for a period of time with absolutely no discussions made between me and the guests. I remembered His teaching which was:

"The people are too concerned with problems from debts to new government policies, it is alright to worry about them but one should not denied the chance to remove the film of troubles and struggles from your sight to embrace the beauty of life and it's magnificent creatures, to cleanse the soul and clear the mind, so as to remain healthy."

His principles apply to almost everything, machines and engines are no exception, in time it will need to be cleaned, oiled, and greased, before it is operational and ready for use. Giving these small walks to people in the at most calm and pure environment, surrounded by the beauty of simplicity and sophistication is firmly believed by my master to heal and mend any broken person, physically and mentally. Although apparently, Zarina was not amenable to this method which was no surprise for me, considering her European looks, however, the stroll was over so I started to converse with her while we were going inside.

"Are you pretending not to pay attention to me sir or are you not paying attention at all?" continued the stranger in a more subtle voice,

"No, I wasn't listening to you, I was meditating" said I solemnly,

"On what?" she asked immediately with somewhat of an interest which surprisingly disperse the negative atmosphere around her,

"One of my first lessons, Patience,"

"OK I get it, you want me to be patient don't you, I'm sorry about grumbling but I have been waiting a long time to see him, going from places to places. Do you go out a lot? I think, typically, a monk would stay in his temple all of the time, right?

"No not necessarily, sister, sometimes we have to go to the capital because of some emergencies which requires our attendance" I quietly answered her, deliberately not stating what sort of problems we remedy,

"Such as?" inquired the girl much to my annoyance,

"You know the usual, laws, marriage, famine, and so on. They think we are affluent and abundant, they just want our guidance and gold, and it is not difficult to tell if whether they genuinely need it or not,"

The traveler stopped for a moment looking rather confused, to which I was oblivious for I would not have continued without her until she came sprinting towards me and asked wearily:

"Am I hearing things cause of the heat or did you just said gold,"

"Well, you did say 'said' after you said 'did' so, yes and yes, you are hallucinating and I did mention gold" I said mundanely which I then remembered that regular people do not really grasp or even accept the ideology of the spiritual connection. Regretting what I had said, I quickly attempted to contend her inquisitiveness:

"But right now you shouldn't think about it too much, my master is in that chamber, I shall notify him of your presence while you wait here" I said, motioning her to sit on the elegant old wooden couch. As she sat on it it made a detestable creaking sound echoing through out the temple, I looked back and amiably starred at her for a moment which she replied quietly:

"Sorry about that,"

"Relax sister, this will not take long,"

Entering my master's domain, I discovered that he was in a meditative trance. I gently closed the infuriatingly heavy door behind me and stood there waiting, in his surroundings you can feel the energy of the cosmos flowing through him engulfing the room with strange magic-like essence. His room was not at all simple or common, as the stereotypical view of a poor monk. It had been filled to the ceiling with pages of precious fragile books of music from the Spanish Gypsy Flamenco to the noble Violin, science in almost every branch, and philosophy with every author and writer imaginable, varied from the classic Aristotle, Plato, to the slightly more contemporary such as John Stuart Mill and Locke. Although the untidiness of his study may lead to the conclusion of disorganisation and carelessness, but on the contrary, in this sea of chaotic knowledge lies a well-defined systematical order in which he invented for himself. Name any of the books in the room and he will show it to you in less than a minute.

"Is that you my apprentice?" came my master's coarse and rugged voice,

"Yes master, I am here to inform..."

"I have, already the awareness of another being in this house, and you must send that person back to where they departed from" articulated my master, still focusing on his meditation.

I was, in many ways, upset at his denial of her without even seeing or talking to her. Not wanting to bother my master, I politely demanded:

"For what reasons? Should I send her back, my master"

"I have detected a tremor in the living energy field, one I have not felt since a time before time. When she stepped in here you were not listening to the energy around her that is why you did not sense it, it was as if nature had manifested herself in the form of a human being..."

"That's awsome then, why should..."

"You are interrupting me, my apprentice,"

"I apologise master, pray continue,"

"Normally, a manifestation such as that, are signs of goodness and purity, nevertheless, this one however has one vital element into which I had almost not taken account,"

"What element, master?"


End file.
